Entosis: The emerging face of non-cell-autonomous type IV programmed death

Abstract

The present review summarizes recent experimental evidences about the existence of the non-cell-autonomous death entosis in physiological and pathophysiological contexts, discusses some aspects of this form of cell death, including morphological, biochemical and signaling pathways that distinguish non-cell-autonomous demises from other death modalities and propose to define this new modality of death as type IV programmed cell death.

Keywords: Cellular cannibalism; Entosis; Non-cell-autonomous death.